Pelé postpones Union visit due to illness just one week after announcement

Brazilian superstar footballer Pelé was due to speak on Monday

Pelé won the World Cup three times with Brazil, but won't let the Union share his gloryFabio Rodrigues Pozzebom/ABr

by Catherine Lally & Todd Gillespie

This article is 8 years old

Friday January 19 2018, 12:15pm

Brazilian footballer Pelé will no longer be speaking on Monday at the Cambridge Union, after collapsing from exhaustion on Thursday morning.

The news comes just one week after the Union’s Lent termcard was released.

The 77-year-old three-time World Cup champion was the one of the biggest names announced by the Union for Lent Term, among a line-up which includes Orlando Bloom and US General Michael Flynn.

The Union has confirmed that the event is being rescheduled for March.

‘Sexiest Man Alive’ to visit the Union

In a statement, Union president Jonah Surkes said: “Pelé has cancelled his entire visit to London this weekend, including all other public and private engagements, after he collapsed from exhaustion in Brazil. Unfortunately, speakers often postpone their visits for personal reasons, although both Pelé and the Union remain excited for a future visit. We wish him a speedy recovery as he recovers in hospital.

“We are planning on hosting Pelé at a later date, hopefully in March. This is of course subject to his recovery. Keep close attention to our Facebook page for further announcements.”

Pelé was also due to attend a dinner with former England goalkeeper Gordon Banks at the Football Writers’ Association in London on the night before his Union appearance.

Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston is still due to speak this evening, followed by James Blunt on Wednesday

Support Varsity

Varsity is the independent newspaper for the University of Cambridge, established in its current form in 1947. In order to maintain our editorial independence, our print newspaper and news website receives no funding from the University of Cambridge or its constituent Colleges.

We are therefore almost entirely reliant on advertising for funding and we expect to have a tough few months and years ahead.

In spite of this situation, we are going to look at inventive ways to look at serving our readership with digital content and of course in print too!

Therefore we are asking our readers, if they wish, to make a donation from as little as £1, to help with our running costs. Many thanks, we hope you can help!